Forested landscapes in the Anthropocene
The flow of Chinese forests both highly local and global
M.K. Lau (Ph.D.)
Motivation
- Ecological studies are now embeded in the anthropocene
- Interconnected world
- Global environmental change
- Complex systems at global scales
Overview
Background: Anthropocene
- Humans = dominant global impact -> Anthropocene
- Indirect effecs and The far reach of the city
- Complex systems = many players and indirect effects matter
Background: Economy == Ecology
- Economic trade data is a window into human impacts
Background: Input-Output Models
- How do we quantify and manage systems?
- Input-Output Analysis provides a modeling framework
- Direct consumption
- Trade occurs among sectors == Indirect consumption
- IO and MRIO models
- A new equation for a new era in science E = F(I-A)^-1
Background: Input-Output Models
exiobase3.jpg
Background: Environmental Extension
- Allows for indirect/consumption based accounting
lemrio.jpeg
Background: Environmental Extension
lemrio_equation.jpeg
Background: Networks are Everywhere
resourcetrade_network.jpeg
Background: Networks are Everywhere
example_network.jpeg
Background: Ecological Network Analysis
- Ecological network theory provides predictions and metrics (Lau 2017)
- Systems theory provides strategies for inteventions
- ENA <- Odums, MacArthur, Ulanowicz, Patten,
- SNA -> ecological networks (Watts and Strogatz, etc.)
- Structure linked to function (Donella Meadows)
Research: Why Chinese Forests?
- Work = Forest Land Embodied in Trade
A Brief History of Forest Time in China
- China is big and diverse
- Long history of human habitation in China
- Historically, two primary regions of forestry
- Forest conservation impacts harvest
- Flows within China and among countries globally important
Research: Why Chinese Forests?
